Forests and forestry

Two hundred ethnic Phnong villagers in Mondulkiri’s Koh Nhek district launched a protest on Friday after the deputy district governor and an armed escort seized timber from their homes, before allegedly attempting to extort a bribe for its return. ...

Government officials say they are investigating the causes of two separate weekend fires in Mondolkiri province that reportedly burned through hundreds of high-value logs the government had sold to a businessman after confiscating them from a pair of rubber plantations. ...

The government has declared almost 1.5 million hectares as protected areas in a bid to enhance the sustainability of the ecology system and reduce the impact of climate change, according to a sub-decree signed on Thursday. The so-called Biodiversity Conservation Corridors cover a total of more ...

Nine Phnong ethnic community representatives and a senior Adhoc officer jointly filed a lawsuit yesterday at the Mondulkiri Provincial Court against eight local officials they allege have turned a blind eye to illegal logging in the Phnom Nam Lyr wildlife sanctuary.The suit follows their inspection ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday signed a sub-decree to create “biodiversity conservation corridors”—patches of land connecting Cambodia’s protected areas—putting an additional 1.4 million hectares under the management of the Environment Ministry.This brings Cambodia’s protected areas overseen by the ministry to more than 40 percent ...

The World Wildlife Fund, in cooperation with Mondulkiri government officials, announced a new land-management initiative yesterday aimed at balancing environmental protection with economic development. ...

Communities in Preah Vihear’s Choam Ksan district have alleged that soldiers are involved in the transportation of illegal timber in the protected forests of Kulen Prum Tep Wildlife Sanctuary, an allegation denied yesterday by a local military official. ...

Forestry officials in Stung Treng province arrested two people and confiscated three SUVs loaded with timber on Saturday night during a raid in Siem Pang district. ...

A year ago on Sunday, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced the start of what sounded like a muscular new crackdown on the illegal timber trade running rampant across eastern Cambodia.   ...

Recently, Cambodia’s prime minister signed a series of decrees placing the responsibility of Prey Lang protection with the Ministry of Environment and provincial governments. It’s a promising change, development professionals and conservation activists tell Devex, as a combination of stronger national and local government cooperation ...

An activist in Stung Treng province has been hauled before commune authorities, threatened with a defamation suit and allegedly warned he could be beaten to death for exposing land clearing in his native Thala Borivat district. ...

The Ministry of Environment signed a framework agreement yesterday with Conservation International and the Mitsui Banking Corporation to launch the planning phase of a new REDD+ project for the Prey Lang forest, officials confirmed.   ...

Almost nine years after Cambodia mandated the zoning of all protected areas to shield its most precious parts from development, the government finally zoned its first two sanctuaries last week, though some locals and conservationists doubt the effort will make much of a difference to ...

After being questioned for more than two hours at the National Assembly yesterday, Environment Minister Say Samal claimed the number of forest crimes decreased in 2016, but acknowledged that some government officials were involved in some of the crimes. A recently released report from the University ...

About 1,000 hectares of protected forest in Mondulkiri province have been logged under the noses of environment officials, rights group Adhoc and community leaders said yesterday. ...

The Kampong Chhnang provincial governor has vowed to ramp up action to protect the Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary in Kampong Chhnang province, which he said is rife with illegal logging and kilns.“We are stopping people from getting into the sanctuary and cutting down trees with ...

Two separate timber busts in recent days netted some 300 pieces of illegally transported wood in Stung Treng belonging to a prominent businessman, and several hidden timber stockpiles at a military officer’s Kampong Speu lumberyard. ...

The Environment Ministry’s annual report revealed 600 forestry crimes in protected areas, while there were nearly 700 cases of fishing, wildlife and land crimes. The report, released yesterday, showed that rangers, in collaboration with relevant parties, managed to prevent and suppress offenses at national parks, wildlife ...

The number of illegal logging sites discovered within Prey Lang forest between April and July was 14 percent higher than the previous four-month period, according to a report released yesterday by the Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN) based on data collected with a novel smartphone ...

Alleged illegal logging and timber exports continue to happen in the Prey Lang forest, while drug trafficking in the area is also on the rise, according to the latest Prey Lang Com-munity Network (PLCN) report yesterday. The fifth monitoring report on the forest’s status from April ...

The Environment Ministry has started it’s process of recruiting 300 new forest rangers to work in select provinces next year in a bid to fill staff shortages and reduce deforestation.​ Ministry spokesperson Sao Sopheap said yesterday that the existing 960-strong ranger workforce was insufficient to guard ...

Kampot provincial authorities have warned some 100 families who have settled on land within Bokor National Park to leave or face eviction. In a letter, the authorities say the families are living illegally on state land in Chhouk district’s Decho Aphivat commune that is part of ...

The story of the Oum Saom forestry community in Kampong Thom province is one that has been told in various forms hundreds of times in Cambodia: local residents locked in a seemingly never-ending battle against a company aiming to cut down their local forest and ...

Cambodia’s illegal loggers will soon have a potentially powerful new foe: a pair of NASA satellites with a keen interest in what they’re up to. Researchers at the University of Maryland in the U.S. say an innovative new system that picks up signs of forest loss ...